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A Dhaka court has given police five days to quiz Miah Nuruddin Ahmad Apu, a former aide to BNP acting chief Tarique Rahman, in their custody over the seizure of money before general elections.
Metropolitan Magistrate Sarafuzzaman Ansari on Thursday approved the remand of Apu, who contested for the Shariatpur-3 seat in Dec 30 parliamentary elections.
Mozibur Rahman Dulal, the lawyer for Apu, pleaded for Apu’s bail, but the court rejected his petition, reports bdnews24.
Inspector Ashraful Islam of the police’s Criminal Investigation Department sought 10 days of remand.
“The suspect is the mastermind and chief operator of the activities to call the 11th parliamentary elections into questions and destabilising the country,” the CID inspector said in the remand petition.
“It is necessary to quiz him to identify his associates and solve the mystery,” he added.
The Rapid Action Battalion or RAB confiscated Tk 80 million in cash and Tk 100 million in cheques from export-import firm and contractor United Corporations at Motijheel in the capital on Dec 25.
They also arrested its Managing Director AM Ali Haider alias Nafiz and Office Assistant Alamgir Hossain.
After finding Apu’s posters at the United Corporations, the elite police unit raided his Amena Enterprise at Gulshan and arrested its General Manager Joynal Abedin.
The trio were remanded in police custody in a case started over money laundering and antiterrorism charges.
The RAB said the money was part of a conspiracy to foil the polls and arrested Apu on Jan 4 in the case.
A former vice-president of the JCD’s Jagannath University unit, Apu was an assistant personal secretary to Tarique.
They were seen together when the son of BNP chief Khaleda Zia travelled to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah a few years ago.